5 June Day 7 ride (Day 12 on itinerary) to camp just before Lakla la pass. 95ks. Ride time 4hr:40
8ks of gentle climbing through very scenic farmland to the beginning of the climb over Yulong La pass 4520m. Road works here so had to wait about 30 mins to be let through. Concrete road being broken up, though it looked in good condition, probably it will be tar-sealed. Sections of dirt. Not steep but very dusty. Lots of road patches, due to frost /snow damage. Almost at the top, a road worker snuck up behind Nickie and pushed her for about...

3 June Day 5 to Shigatse 94k ride time 3hr 40 Now completed 361 ks.
Downhill and tail wind all the way. Rode as a group to cut the wind and averaged 28 kph. Great fun. After lunch we spread out and there was opportunity to take in the scenery and stop for photos. We have dropped in altitude and the valleys are grassed and cropped. Lots of blue lupins. Shigatse is Tibet’s 2nd biggest city. Only Jan had the energy to go on the monastery tour when we arrived, rest of us pretty tired and have got to the point we don’t really need to see...

The hotel had not hot water so after boiling a jug and trying to spongebath with it in 2C temperatures, I spent the morning at the Gyantse Castle and monastery then headed to Shigatse.
Shigatse is Tibet's second largest town and was about a 2 hour drive northwest from Gyantse. It is the home of the Panchen Lama, who ranks second to the Dalai Lama and who is considered the reincarnation of the Buddha of Infinite Light. Its a sprawling place, with dusty uneven streets humming with traffic. Shigatse has a Potala-look alike on one hilltop but...

Well, we were finally off...our first day on our four day trip to the Nepal border with stops at Shigatse to see Tashilunpo Monastery (home of the Panchen Lama), New Tingri to get our Everest Base Camp Permits, EVEREST BASE CAMP and Rhongpu Monastery with the night spent in Tingri, and our last night spent in Zhangmu on the Tibet/Nepal border. Wow...what a trip this was!
We started early in the morning from Lhasa with seven other people split between two Toyota Landcruisers. Three were from Slovakia, one from Chile, one from England and...

Lazy version
* Baiju Temple - Stupa checking out the valley
* Old Skool flour mill!! For the engineers
* Tashi Lumpo Monestary (we see a lot of monestaries on this trip) - Largest in Tibet
Hard Yard Version
Leaving Gyantse we headed to the Baiju temple so early the hawkers did not get a chance to badger us on the way in!! The main feature of this temple was the giant stupa that constantly checked out the town and valley below. Tim decided to do a little bit of elevated breakin at the top just to show off!!
There was also a constant recorded...

Upon arriving in Sakya, we begrudgingly checked in to our only nice hotel option. The owners, knowing they had the market cornered, jacked up the price as we were foreigners. After a long, verbal battle, we were able to lower the price a tad but were still forced to accept the final offer. Feeling a bit car weary and in need of stretch, we hiked up to explore ruins of an ancient monastery (built 1073 AD) which had been destroyed during the cultural revolution. Adam and I meandered around the ruins until almost sunset. Lahavitte and Roberto...

SHIGATSE
Shigatse, only 3900m high, is quite a nice town with an interesting market, carpet factory, and yes a monastery. Actually Tashilhunpo Monastery (1447) is quite lovely. Again it once housed 4000 monks but know only about 700 remain. The monastery houses a 27m high Buddha, very impressive, also the tomb of the forth Panchen Lama containing 85kg of gold and numerous jewels. Fatima was imagining the rings and earrings she could create out of all that finery. There is also a ruined fortress that at one time must have been very...

After a further 90km of remarkably smooth road - it seemed like days of waiting in Shigatse before attempting the pass to the himalayas - in fact it was just two, but there was no english TV and the sulk was on!! This is also the home of the eleventh panchen lama, who was abducted as a child (along with his family - all of whom are still missing) and replaced with a politically-correct version from Beijing.
After a day at the local monestry, which boasts a 26.2m golden buddha and is indeed impressive, the guide (who had refused to speak to...

Monday 24th. April Day 56 (Tibetan Experience - Day 3)
A glorious sunny day, but very cold. Lhatse is on a very flat plateau and the wind whips up the dust all the time. We turned off the main(!) road and followed another dirt road which hugged the side of the valley and river bed. The mountains were all around us and the plateau and river bed must have been over a mile wide in places. The road continued along the valley foe a couple of hours till we eventually came to a small village, the locals were very friendly and surprisingly did not...

24 April - Day 3 To Shigatse 3900
This was a hard day's drive. We were still up very high and we drove through a 4 km wide desolate, dry, dusty valley. I wonder why these people want to live here. The road was very bumpy and there was quite a bit of traffic which made the dust worse.
I did enjoy the stops in the villages where I met sheep, goats, donkeys and lots of children. and women and men too. The men look so prim and proper in their bowler hats.
A few Km before the city the road becomes sealed and we can relax in the car. I...

well we're here in lhatse (not shigatse, shigatse was the ony town i could put on the map, so thats where the red dot is), and its a dry, dusty town. i cant believe theres internet access. if it werent for you, the faithful readers and your ravenous hunger for new posts, id be dissapointed that it was here. just cant get away from it these days.
arrival here in lhatse marks the end of day 1 on the friendship highway. we left at 9 in the am with about 20 people on a 30-seater bus, most of them tibetans. there are actually two americans with...